A log file is a file that includes events executed by hardware or software. Log files may include information such as a timestamp for an event, the name of an event, an IP address associated with an event, and an identification number for an event. Events, in a log file, may be used in diagnosing errors or latencies in a system.
In a distributed environment, log files from multiple sources may be combined. The combined log files may be stored to a data repository. Analyzing events in distributed environments usually requires the participation of several teams consisting of experts in a particular field, such as networking, server hardware, and applications.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.